Day 3: Kalupahana – Nuwara Eliya

‘The Natural High’ was the third day’s theme, with a route heading over the country’s highest waterfall, Bambarakanda, crossing the highest plateau, Horton Plains, before ending in Sri Lanka’s highest town Nuwara Eliya.
All the riders reckoned that the worst was behind them; that the heat and humidity of the first stage were unlikely to be outdone – but then came stage three.
Beginning with a 17 km climb of 1,300 metres (which alone is enough to make the jaws drop on many mountain bikers), there was also a wind speed of 80–90 km/h to deal with, with a force that literally knocked some riders from their bike as they exited wind-sheltered corners at speed. The wind reduced almost every rider to walking at certain points, but once we’d reached the top of a climb and began the ride across Horton Plains, a protected landscape, we were finally granted some protection from the elements. The descent from the plateau was another 17 km drop down to Nuwara Eliya. The day’s stage was completed after 66.5 km and 2,298 metres of climbing.

3 h 42 min was this year’s winning stage time, a full four minutes quicker than the previous edition. Ajay Pandit Chhetri hauled himself the stage win with a lead of 11 minutes ahead of Yuki Ikeda and 19 minutes ahead of Raj Kumar Shrestha. The final rider crossed the line in 8 h 50 min.